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Upton Family Papers

Upton Family Papers

Sponsor:

Processing and conservation for this
collection was funded in part by a grant from the National Historical
Publications and Records commission. Processing was completed with the
assistance of an intern from the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and
Information Science and a Peabody Museum volunteer.

Scope and Content Note

The Upton Family Papers are comprised of ships papers,
correspondence, accounts, receipts and printed matter associated with a number of
Upton Family members. The collection has been divided into five series.

Series I. Samuel Upton (1782-1851) Papers consist
primarily of bills and receipts and a few papers that document legal affairs.

Series II. Samuel Fabens Upton Papers are the most
significant portion of the collection. Subseries A. Ships
Papers, including some addressed to Samuel Upton, document the activities
of the brig Granite, briefly from 1841 to 1843 and more
substantially thereafter until 1850 when the Granite
was lost off the coast of the Falkland Islands. Granite's papers, which are arranged chronologically, include bills and
receipts relating to cargo, repairs to the vessel, medical and funeral expenses for
the crew, bills of lading, invoices, insurance policies, sales accounts, crew lists,
charter agreements and correspondence from masters, merchants and agents
representing Samuel F. Upton in South America. These ships papers also contain
material concerning other Upton family members who were on board as supercargoes.
See William Upton's description of Granite's wreckage
December 28, 1850. Some undated items have been filed in a folder with dated
materials for a particular voyage, as the former were originally found among those
papers. Printed Matter includes oversize items relating to the sale of rubber shoes
brought on board brig Granite.

Subseries B. Miscellaneous Ships Papers, arranged
alphabetically by ship, are comprised of papers that illustrate Samuel F. Upton's
business on other vessels that he chartered. Subseries C.
Shipping Papers consists of documents relating to more than one ship
including correspondence, insurance policies, accounts, and an 1846 cash book.
Oversize catalogs advertising the sale of rubber shoes from abroad have been placed
in Box 13, Folder 2. Subseries D. Business and Personal
Papers cover Upton's non-shipping and personal affairs. The bulk of the
business papers document Samuel F. Upton's involvement in various Massachusetts
rubber shoe manufacturing enterprises such as Standley and Company, the Beverly
Company and the Edgeworth Rubber Company. Papers include correspondence, patents and
engineering designs, contracts, accounts, bills and receipts and the Edgeworth
Rubber Company constitution of 1849. Samuel F. Upton's personal papers are few and
while many of the bills and receipts include both business and household items there
is little over material documenting his private life.

Series III. Upton Family Relatives Papers contain
material generated by Mary F. (Brown) Upton, Paul Upton, Mary E. (Upton) Smith,
Alice F. Upton, Russell F. Smith, and Marion B. Smith. Subseries
A. Paul Upton documents some legal and business transactions with Samuel
F. Upton. Subseries B. Mary F. (Brown) Upton consists
primarily of household bills and receipts accumulated after Samuel F. Upton's death
but also contain deeds to property that Mrs. Upton obtained during her adult life.
Subseries C. Mary E. (Upton) Smith consists primarily
of bills and receipts that closely resemble those of her sister Alice. Russell
Smith's papers include a few bills and receipts. This subseries also contains papers
of Marion B. Smith that describe her ward ship of a young handicapped boy, Richard
Renshaw Lowery, from 1937-1945. Subseries D. Alice F.
Upton is composed of personal correspondence, the purchase and sales
agreement on her parents' home in Chelsea, Massachusetts and a substantial
collection of bills and receipts from the time she lived in West Medford,
Massachusetts with her sister.

Series IV. Brown Family Papers document the estate of
Ephraim Brown which was managed by his daughter Mary F. (Brown) Upton. The papers of
Ephraim Brown consist of an 1846-1900 estate account book documenting property owned
by the Brown family and other business and legal papers which relate to Ephraim's
estate. The papers of Rachel Brown consist of medical and funeral bills. The papers
of Ephraim Brown, Jr. are comprised of letters and bills dated after his father's
death. Also contained in this series are the papers of Daniel Brown which include
various legal and business documents but are primarily composed of bills and
receipts. The papers of Joseph Brown (1825-ca. 1901) are similar to those of his
brother Daniel but with greater emphasis on probate documentation. Finally the
papers of William Henry Brown (1830-1848) describe his fatal voyage to Africa on
board the brig Planet.

Series V. Miscellaneous Papers include materials
associated with individuals whose relationship with the Upton family is unknown.
They include Ephraim Snelling, John Stone, Harriet Stone, and Mary Maria Maither.
Additional unidentified papers and four copies of nineteenth-century newspapers
conclude the series.

Samuel Fabens Upton (1821-1869), son of Samuel Upton
and Mary (Fabens) Upton, was believed to have been a lumber dealer in Chelsea,
Massachusetts. He married the daughter of Ephraim Brown (1785-1846) and Mary F.
(Brown) Upton (ca. 1822-1895) in 1845. Together they had five children, three of
whom died at less than a year old; Mary E. (Upton) Smith (b. 1846), Alice Fabens
Upton, twins Joseph H. and William H. (b. and d. 1850), and Samuel B. (1855-1856).
Samuel F. Upton also had two grandchildren; Russell F. Smith and Marion B.
Smith.

Paul Upton (b. 1826) was a ship's captain and the
second oldest son of Samuel Upton and Mary (Fabens) Upton. His brothers William and
Charles Upton II were also ships captains.

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in Philcat. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons,
or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Brown, Daniel, d. 1869

Brown, Ephraim, Jr.,
1785-1846

Brown, Joseph Augustus, 1825-circa
1901

Brown, Rachel, d. circa
1847

Brown, William Henry,
1830-1848

Lowery, Richard Renshaw

Maither, Mary Maria

Smith, Marion B. (Marion Bush),
1894-

Smith, Mary E. Upton, 1846-

Smith, Russell F.

Stone, Harriet

Stone, John

Upton family

Upton, Alice Fabens

Upton, Mary F. Brown, ca.
1822-1895

Upton, Paul, 1826-

Upton, Samuel F. (Samuel Fabens),
1821-1869

Upton, Samuel, 1782-1851

Alwena (Brig)

Beverly Company

Carolina (Ship)

Deborah (Brig)

Dromo (Bark)

Eagle (Brig)

Edgeworth Rubber Company

Elizabeth (Schooner)

Emeline (Schooner)

Emerald (Brig)

Evalina Bandel (Vessel)

Gazelle (Brig)

Granite (Brig)

Mary Clark (Schooner)

Mary Helen (Brig)

Mary W. (Vessel)

Planet (Brig)

Salem (Brig)

Susan (Brig)

Tim Pickering (Brig)

William and Henry
(Schooner)

Estates, administration of

Genealogy

Letter writing

Rubber industry and trade--
Massachusetts

Shipping

Ships' papers

Account books

Land titles

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Administrative Information

Copyright

Request for permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted in
writing to the Manuscript Librarian in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex
Museum.

Related Material

Upton, William Henry, M.A., LL.M. Upton Family Records:
Being Genealogical collections for an Upton Family History. London:
Mitchell and Hughes, 1893. Print.

Vinton, John Adams. The Upton Memorial: A Genealogical
Record of the Descendants of John Upton of North Reading, Mass. Bath, ME:
E. Upton & Son, 1874. Photocopy reprint, Salem, Mass.: Higginson Book Co.,
1998.